


Nagualistic Tendencies

by Zab43



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Animal Traits, Friendship, Gen, work relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25707076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zab43/pseuds/Zab43
Summary: Nagualism: belief in a guardian spirit residing or embodied by a particular animalAll the demons have animal aspects of one sort or another and I have wondered how that works in practice. This is an exploration of what happens when these zoological guardians come to the fore at the worst possible time….
Relationships: Hastur/Ligur (Good Omens)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Nagualistic Tendencies

**Author's Note:**

> My brain still seems stuck in manic-writer mode so apologies for spamming you all with my musings….
> 
> (comments welcome btw)

Peeling back the layers, exposing delicate, fresh new skin to the air, was a weird sensation. It wasn’t exactly painful, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable either. The old skin had been itchy and uncomfortable for some time now, too tight, prone to catching on any rough surface, tearing and cracking. It needed to go. That didn’t mean the shed was any easier to deal with.

At times like this Crowley liked to retreat to familiar surroundings, somewhere enclosed, comfortable, dark and secluded. Unfortunately, this time around, his animalistic aspect was going to cause trouble. This time around his shed had come at exactly the worst possible moment. It was time for Hell’s audit: a bicentennial event that heralded a time of lamentation and misery for all. It was unavoidable, but avoid it he would have to do, in his new skin he was too vulnerable to leave his nest. At least he wasn’t in Hastur’s position….

….The life cycle of a frog was a metamorphic one. The first stage started in a cocoon of jelly, then on to a tiny swimming set of eyes, barely more aware than the egg itself. As the stages progressed the shape became more and more recognisable, tail and arms first, then legs, then the tail would shrink and disappear altogether. Finally the completely formed perfect frog and the demon underneath.

Hastur went through the turmoil and distress of this weird transformation on average every five hundred years. He could feel the urge to find a quiet still pond. He needed to submerge himself and relax his body into the gelatinous state from which he would slowly re-emerge, renewed and angry at the unpleasant experience. Unfortunately this particular metamorphosis so happened to coincide with the audit. It was not a pleasant thought.

Flies too were metamorphic. While Beelzebub managed to sustain the adult stage for an unnaturally long time she couldn’t avoid the intermediate stages indefinitely. From egg to the first larval stage, through various developments to pupa and finally hatching.

It’s true she had managed to limit the times this happened to only once or twice every hundred years - and the few days from egg to fully fledged fly usually didn’t impinge on her duties too much. Unlike Hastur she wasn’t incapacitated for weeks at a time. However, again, it was a question of timing and this time the few days had managed to exactly coincide with the audit.

Dagon should have been fine. A fish-aspect didn’t usually cause any inconvenient transformations for the demons lucky enough to carry them. Aquatic aspects were in fact envied in Hell. Demons mostly inhabited aspects that caused problems - either transformative, or with short life cycles or inconveniently fertile. The fish demons were generally more stable.

Adding to the demons’ troubles those with rodent or insect aspects often fell foul of those with predatory ones, the nature of these creatures sometimes got the better of their masters. Even Beelzebub had found herself fighting to escape the digestive tract of some other demon from time to time. Although her tendency to tear and rip her way out of the unfortunate demon did make them wary, even when in full animal form.

Yet again, however, the audit had caught a demon at a particularly inconvenient moment. Dagon’s aspect was closely allied to the salmon. From fry to smolt and on to adult was easy. She had held good in the adult shape for up to seven hundred years in the past, but inevitably there came the shift from adult to spawning form.

Demons didn’t need to reproduce, and seldom did, but if their animal aspects’ mating forms coincided it could happen. However, regardless of the reproductive element, the animal aspects still had to go through the stages at some point. Dagon was gravid with eggs and desperate to find some freshwater pool with calm deep water to unload them. Her instincts were to find free flowing water and head upstream as quickly as possible. Unfortunately there was the audit to contend with.

Even Eric, with his delicate gazelle aspect, was unavailable. Unlike other demons he didn’t possess a violent nature, his chief method for dealing with danger was to run. This made him easy prey for many of Hell’s denizens and he and his brethren were seen as ‘disposable’.

Now gazelles were social creatures and, with Erics being discorporated on a regular basis, he needed replacement companions at quite a rate. This meant that, in contrast to other demons, he did spawn in regular seasons. It wasn’t the breeding season at the moment, which would have been bad enough, but it was the spawning time. Eric was therefore occupied in ensuring the new members of his herd were safely delivered and nursed. He certainly didn’t have the time or attention to deal with Hell’s bureaucracy.

Ligur was the best placed of the demons. His chameleon form shed on a regular basis, almost continually in fact. He didn’t have to deal with the discomfort of a whole skin shed. Neither did he have the metamorphic properties of the frog or fly demons and he did not go through mating or spawning seasons. His aspect was stable. It rarely impinged on his day to day life and, when it did, it worked to his advantage.

The chameleonic aspect lent him an aptitude for camouflage, the independent movement of his reptilian eyes gave him enhanced awareness of his surroundings. His animalistic nature was an asset. He, therefore, had no issues with the upcoming audit.

Luckily for the other demons he was also a carer for his fellows. He had seen the dry flaky skin on Crowley’s back, observed Hastur’s frequent trips to earth’s ponds, noticed the glassy sheen of Beelzebub’s old wing-cases, the fattening of Dagon’s underside and the characteristic nervousness of the Erics.

Ligur understood the catastrophe that was about to befall them if the audit caught the demons unaware in their full animalistic aspects. With a slight snigger in Hastur’s direction he amended the thought to ‘caught on the hop’ before looking guilty.

He shuffled the papers in the nearest file together and prepared to cover for the others. Once the various metamorphoses were complete, when his fellow demons had dealt with the needs of their respective aspects, he would expect some gratitude.

From Crowley he wanted more human accoutrements - cigarettes, a coat, maybe some gloves. Earth’s material objects fascinated him and he looked forward to being gifted some new ones.

From Beelzebub - well that was easy - his boss could easily gift him a free-pass on the next audit, a waiver on a few missed targets - it was the least she could do to show her gratitude.

For Dagon ‘Lord of the Files’ there were so many instances where she could help him, so much paperwork she could make disappear to ease his working day.

Eric would not complain the next time Ligur discorporated one of them. They would overcome their natural nervousness and allow some of their number to be sacrificed on the alter of Ligur’s temper. His contribution was easily extracted.

That left Hastur. There was nothing the frog-demon could offer Ligur in terms of work favours or trophies from the human world. Hastur was of no use in those directions and to discorporate him would be near impossible - he was far too strong.

However, Hastur did have something that Ligur valued above any other considerations and that was himself, alone, unadorned and unaffected. To Ligur Hastur’s company was worth more than any human trinket, any waived responsibility, any time saved on pointless bureaucracy or release for his anger. To keep Hastur himself was its own reward.

So the audit would be completed and their corner of Hell would pass with flying colours. Crowley would head back to earth. Beelzebub would go back to managing the offices and yelling at her underlings. Dagon would return to terrorising the slipshod filers and untidy writers. The Erics would rush around trying to keep out of the other demons’ way while nervously carrying out necessary paperwork.

Hastur would…..well Hastur would sit in the office, under the leaky pipes, glaring at Ligur and complaining about everything. Ligur would grin at his complaints and enjoy his company and never ever tell him how much he appreciated it.


End file.
